Treading Water

It is the story of a lesbian couple, and takes place over one holiday weekend. One of the lesbians comes from a rich family, and her stuffy mother refuses to allow her to bring her partner for the family Christmas party. Unknown to everyone, the partner is also the drug counselor for the rich lesbian's younger brother, and the parents have dealt with her in the past, as her son's probation officer, not knowing that she was also their daughter's lover.

NUDITY REPORT

Nina Landey and Angie Redman, playing the lesbian couple, show their breasts in the shower and in tender, inexplicit love scenes.

DVD info from Amazon.

widescreen anamorphic 1.85:1

It is a genuine and involving film, in my opinion, but the title is well chosen. Everything and everybody treads water. Nobody makes any progress toward any goal. Nothing really happens (other than the unmasking of the partner's secret relationship with the brother). At the end of the weekend, everything is right back where it was.

That is realistic, of course, but not very entertaining or commercial, thus explaining why there was never a theatrical release. Despite the dramatic stasis, I got involved in the characters, I enjopyed the stark, evocative look of the Northwest in winter, and I didn't mind at all to be investing 90 minutes watching it. To be completely honest, I guess maybe the nudity helped me along as well..

The Critics Vote

no major reviews online. Here's the review from the Boston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. Voting results: IMDb voters score it a dreadful 3.5/10.

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, C. OK as an actionless slice-of-life film about a lesbian couple struggling for acceptance. Avoid it if you don't like that sort of material because nothing happens at all.